Gordon Brown has broken his silence over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, saying he was left angry and repulsed by the reception that greeted Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on his return to Libya last week.

However, the prime minister again refused to comment directly on the Scottish government's decision to free Megrahi, stressing that the UK had played "no role" in the matter.

Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street this afternoon, Brown dismissed suggestions that the decision by the Scottish justice secretary would undermine Britain's relationship with the US and other allies against terrorism.

Asked whether he thought Edinburgh had been wrong to release Megrahi, Brown said his first thoughts had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.

He added: "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya. When I met Colonel Gaddafi over the summer, I made it absolutely clear to him that we had no role in making the decision about Megrahi's future.

"Because it was a quasi-judicial matter, because it was a matter legislated for by the Scottish parliament and not by us, it was a matter over which we could not interfere and had no control over the final outcome."

Brown said the UK's "resolve to fight terrorism" remained "absolute". "We want to work with countries – even countries like Libya, who have renounced nuclear weapons now and want to join the international community – we want to work with them in the fight against terrorism around the world."

The prime minister's comments, his first in public since last week's release of Megrahi, came after talks with Binyamin Netanyahu, his Israeli counterpart.

Brown has been repeatedly criticised by opposition politicians for staying silent on Megrahi in recent days, despite finding time to express his views on the England cricket team's Ashes victory at the weekend.

The Scottish government announced that it would release "all relevant information" about the applications to return Megrahi in the next week. A spokesman said the government was writing to all interested parties seeking permission to publish their submissions and representations before a Scottish parliament debate on Wednesday week.

He said Westminster had so far refused to allow the publication of letters from the UK government relating to the prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Libya, but said the request to publish had been repeated.

A spokesman for the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said: "We will be very pleased to publish all relevant information, which in all respects will demonstrate that in rejecting prisoner transfer and granting compassionate release the justice secretary made the right decisions for the right reasons.

"We are now seeking the necessary permissions to publish information, including from the UK government. Indeed the only obstacle to publishing material has come from the UK Labour government, who previously failed to grant permission to publish their communications to us regarding the prisoner-transfer agreement, and we hope that they will now support disclosure."

The original request to Westminster to publish details of ministerial correspondence relating to the prisoner transfer agreement was made in February 2008, the spokesman said.

Material due to be published is likely to include notes of a meeting between MacAskill and Megrahi in Greenock prison on 5 August.

The Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray, earlier today called on MacAskill to publish notes of the meeting. "We need to know what he said to Megrahi and what advice he got about such a meeting. He also owes it to the American families to publish notes of their discussions," he said.